To Understand
by Vicious Ventriloquist
Summary: A series of loosely related one-shots revolving around and exploring the relationship between a Stand and its user. Chp. 7: A different take on when Jotaro goes to see Jolyne in prison.
1. Guilt (Josuke & Crazy Diamond)

For as long as he'd had Crazy Diamond, Josuke couldn't get over the fact that his Stand often behaved more like a puppy than the mighty guardian spirit he regarded him as. Jotaro had rolled his eyes at the term "guardian spirit" when he first heard it, but even a disapproving stare from his older nephew wouldn't stop Josuke from holding his Stand in such high esteem.

It was simply hard for him _not_ to feel affection or admiration for Crazy Diamond, particularly when his Stand insisted on assisting him in such mundane tasks as getting ready for school in the morning—throwing his things haphazardly into his backpack, for instance, and even attempting to help him style his hair on days when Josuke was running late. He wouldn't dare say these attempts were unhelpful, however; he was certain they'd saved his ass on more than one occasion, on the (thankfully) rare days where a call from school would have been the inciting event for his mother's wrath.

So Josuke was very grateful to his Stand, indeed, and was musing over this fact as he applied the finishing touches of hairspray in the bathroom; he could hear his long-time companion rummaging through his things back in his bedroom, no doubt searching for the misplaced English homework he had been muttering about under his breath moments earlier. With a grin, he silently wondered what he had done in his past life to be deserving of such a Stand. He was about to utter this thought out loud as he turned to leave the bathroom, but before he could speak several crumpled sheets of paper were shoved into his face.

After he recovered his footing, Josuke eyed the barely-legible English a past version of him had scrawled onto the worn-out pages, shrugged, and smirked to hide his relief. "Ah, well," he sighed, gingerly taking the pages from Crazy Diamond's tentative grip. "I guess I can still turn it in…or just copy Koichi's if he'll let me. Thanks a bunch, though, Crazy Diamond! You saved me a lot of trouble."

The Stand nodded once and then, with a softly uttered " _Dora_ ," returned the pages to how they had looked before they had been stuffed into a backpack, trampled, torn, and otherwise destroyed by his user's daily activities.

Josuke took the utmost care to avoid crumpling them again as he placed them into his folder. "Ah, you're the best, Crazy Diamond!"

The simple show of gratitude caused the Stand's expression to light up like a Christmas tree—only for it to be extinguished in the next instant.

"Ah, crap…" Josuke swore inwardly as he eyed the drop of blood that beaded on his finger. "A paper cut." He quickly placed the appendage into his mouth to avoid getting blood on his carpet or repaired homework, and flinched at the stinging sensation. "Of all the rotten luck…"

"…"

He realized his error as soon as he saw the look on Crazy Diamond's face: a sorrowful, dejected mask that deepened the pain in his finger. "Damn…hey, look, it's not that big a deal, okay? This kinda stuff happens all the time. You know that. It's not like I'm dying or anything!"

Even though he didn't speak, his Stand's expression said it all. _But it's not usually my fault, is it?_

Josuke frowned. "It's not your fault, you…it's mine. I was clumsy, that's all. You did me a favor by repairing my homework. Lighten up a bit, okay? This'll heal in no time."

He thought he saw his Stand flinch at that—but it could've just been his imagination. Crazy Diamond gave him a tentative smile, nodding his assent and hovering like an overbearing parent as his user applied a bandage to the small cut and continued on with his morning routine—only now, it seemed to Josuke as though he were trying even harder to be helpful.

As his Stand watched him spread butter on toast with a comically intense stare, Josuke was reminded of something he hadn't thought about in years—a time when the large spirit had acted similarly, only for a more extended period of time. It wasn't a memory he particularly enjoyed thinking about, even if it had been a huge milestone in his relationship with Crazy Diamond.

After all, who likes being reminded of their second hospital stay?

* * *

Kids liked to play in the streets. Josuke had when he was younger, at least—and while his mom hadn't appreciated it, her attempts to stop him from doing so had been met with his refusal to obey. He tried to be safe about it; he was meticulous about his hair, and didn't fancy having it ruined by an incoming car.

On that day he must've been sleep deprived, then, since he didn't even see the rock jutting out of the sidewalk until his skateboard rammed into it. The collision sent him careening off the board, stumbling forward and into the street as he tried to regain his balance.

" _Josuke_!"

His mother's panicked voice caught him off guard more than the sound of tires screeching, and when a frozen Josuke glanced up all he could see was the front of the car bearing down on him, and the driver's terrified expression as he struggled to slam on the brakes in time.

He felt a tug on his arm, his stomach being left behind as he was flung backward, and then, nothing.

Later on, Josuke would be thankful that he lost consciousness.

* * *

At the hospital, his mother breathed a sigh of mixed relief and dismay when the doctor informed them of his condition: his leg was broken in two places, not to mention he had heavy bruising on his upper arm and back, where he had hit the ground.

"Oddly enough," the doctor said, "I couldn't trace any of the injuries back to the car itself. All of them could be attributed to a nasty fall—and there weren't even any bruises on the side of his body where the car _should_ have hit, according to you, Higashikata-san. In any case, I think we should keep him overnight just to make sure he doesn't have any undetected internal injuries. You can never be too careful about these kinds of accidents, especially when children are involved…"

It was the strangest thing—according to the doctor, it almost seemed as though Josuke had been _thrown_ to the ground, rather than knocked down by a car. But given that he had escaped with apparently minor injuries, considering the car's speed, he informed the two of them that they had been lucky.

Of course, Josuke knew that luck had nothing to do with it.

* * *

After his leg had been given a cast, the doctor took his mother into the hallway to discuss payment. Finally alone, Josuke allowed himself to wince, sniffling as his eyes teared up from the pain he'd held back in front of his mom.

 _This sucks_. He was unable to get into a comfortable position, what with his leg being elevated and weighed down by what felt like pounds of stone. He didn't want to have to wear this thing for weeks!

An idea occurred to him then—perhaps he didn't have to. Muttering under his breath so no one would overhear, he called out his friendly spirit. " _Crazy Diamond_."

Josuke smiled upon seeing the familiar pink and blue anomaly. He wasn't quite sure how it happened, but the spirit had been following him around for a while now, and seemed to be capable of fixing broken things—objects like his mom's fine china, for example—and it never failed to amaze the young boy when he saw it. He'd even been able to heal some of his friends' scrapes without them noticing. Maybe he could fix broken bones as well. "Can you do it, Crazy Diamond?"

The spirit nodded his assent, hovering his large hands over the thick cast. Josuke watched with rapt attention, waiting for the usual glowing yellow light to encompass his limb.

And he waited.

And waited.

A frown appeared on Crazy Diamond's face, and as Josuke watched worriedly, it morphed into horrified realization. He stared at the young boy with the most apologetic look he had ever seen on _anyone_ , human or not.

"You can't do it?"

He shook his head.

"Why not? I've seen you do it to my friends…"

It seemed as though the tears that had previously been in Josuke's eyes had transferred to Crazy Diamond; they welled up with impressive speed, running down his face and dripping onto the cast.

"So…" Josuke trailed off as he came to the same conclusion the spirit obviously had. "You can't heal me, then? Only other people, and objects and stuff?"

A demure nod was all he received: Crazy Diamond's tears kept on flowing.

While he was slightly bummed at the prospect of actually having to wear the cast until his leg healed, Josuke felt worse for the spirit—he seemed to be taking this limitation pretty hard. "Hey, it's not so bad! It's my fault this happened in the first place—I should've been more careful, like mom said. Besides, if it weren't for you, I would have gotten hurt way worse."

If anything, this only appeared to upset Crazy Diamond more. Josuke frowned, brows furrowed as he extended his hand towards the spirit's. It seemed as though he understood implicitly how he felt—he could sense his anguish, his guilt, and above all else, his frustration—not at his user, but at his own inability to heal him.

 _I'm the one who caused your injuries, and I can't even heal them_.

Josuke sniffled, his own eyes burning with tears as the influx of emotions rendered him speechless. His connection with Crazy Diamond had always been there—his existence alone was proof of that, but these emotions were too intense for him to bear, especially after such a stress-filled day.

"It's okay…" he mumbled, the words nearly inaudible. "I'm fine, really…"

* * *

To his surprise, it wasn't the pain in his leg that woke him up, but the pain in his side.

Josuke released a groan, shifting in an attempt to find a sleeping position that would cause him the least amount of discomfort. His leg was still elevated, so he couldn't move much, but he'd eat his own shoe before calling that horrible night nurse for help. She smelled like onions and bone meal.

 _I wanna go home_ …

His throat felt tight, but he made a valiant effort to stop himself from crying again. He should be strong, shouldn't he? It was just a broken leg and some bruises. He'd be better in no time.

 _This really sucks, though_.

A higher power seemed to have mercy on him, as his consciousness began to fade in and out. He thought he felt his upper half being lifted up, though he supposed he could just be imagining it.

But when something warm dripped onto his face, he was jolted awake once more. With the scant light that came from under the door, his eyes were able to make out a pair of vivid, watery blue ones.

"….Crazy…Diamond…?"

Josuke vaguely realized that his spirit was serving as an impromptu pillow for his upper body; he was much softer than he looked, infinitely more comfortable than the hospital bed he was lying in. He was still crying, with a pained smile that matched the soft, shaky motions of his hand against the young boy's hair.

 _I hope you're okay. I hope you feel better soon. I want to help you, but I don't know how._

The last coherent thought Josuke had was that he was doing a fine job already.

* * *

Looking at Crazy Diamond now, it wasn't a stretch to think that he still felt guilty about what happened all those years ago. His reaction to the paper cut said as much. Thinking back on it, that was probably why he so often thought of his Stand as more of a guardian than a manifestation of his own spiritual energy, as Jotaro referred to it. It was strange to believe, but he felt like his own entity, overflowing with all of the kind, gentle nature that Josuke didn't always feel comfortable displaying to others.

Perhaps it was fanciful, but Josuke wouldn't change it for the world.

 _Thanks a lot, Crazy Diamond. For everything._

"I'm leaving for school!" Josuke said a quick goodbye to his mother before darting out the door and towards Okuyasu, who was waiting with a goofy grin on the sidewalk.

"Yo," his friend said, his hand raised in greeting. "You're late, Josuke. I almost had to leave without you!"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I had a bit of a setback this morning."

"Eh? You okay, bro?" Okuyasu glanced at the bandage on his finger, eyes wide and curious.

"'Course," the young man said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Better than ever."

* * *

 **So I'm finally getting around to posting this story on this site. (It's already on AO3.) For those of you who don't use the archive, I hope you like it. There's already five chapters written, but I don't know if I'll post them all at once since I'm lazy with uploading documents and re-editing them despite the fact that it's not that hard.**

 **-Vicious Ventriloquist**


	2. Pride (Jotaro & Star Platinum)

If Jotaro had to describe Star Platinum in one sentence, he would say this:

"He's a strong Stand."

It went unspoken, but secretly he knew there was more to him than that. Star looked like he was made of pure muscle and bone, but he was fast—faster than most other Stand users could imagine, not even accounting for the ability to stop time. He was all precise movements and lightning reflexes, agile and able to topple a skyscraper with his fist if the need arose. (Jotaro made it his mission to ensure that it wouldn't; the last thing he wanted nowadays was to create more collateral damage than absolutely necessary.) He would never say it out loud, but if he were being honest with himself, he had to admit that he was proud of his Stand. If Jotaro Kujo valued anything in the world, it was that sense of self-sufficiency, the pride and satisfaction that resulted from a job well done, and one less psychotic Stand user polluting the air he breathed.

In retrospect, that might have been why things had gone wrong.

* * *

He'd met his wife while he was an undergraduate. She was older than him, an upperclassman who worked part-time at the seaside café he frequented. Far from it being a passionate affair, he tended to mind his own business, the majority of his time spent there with eyes glued to his notebooks, drink, or the ocean outside. In fact, she'd been the one to ask him out in the first place—surprising though it was, Jotaro couldn't find it within himself to be annoyed. She had been dignified but firm, not one to mince words, which he had appreciated.

It helped her case even more that Star Platinum liked her—well, as much as a Stand that barely had its own cognitive faculties with which to judge people could, anyway. At the time, he hadn't thought much of the niggling sensation in his gut, or the way the lights from outside danced in her eyes for what seemed like forever, almost as though time had stopped.

As clever as he was, it took him quite a long time to realize that it actually had—but not by his own accord.

* * *

Over the course of a few weeks, Jotaro had gone on several dates with her, and each time they parted at the night's end was more disheartening than the last.

And it pissed him off.

She'd done nothing wrong—she was, as a matter of fact, the most pleasant woman he'd ever shared his company with. Yet tonight, like every other night, he was filled with a peculiar frustration as they reached her apartment, the sound of every step she took resonating deep in his chest.

Star Platinum wanted to come out.

 _Why? There are no enemies around, are there?_ It was a redundant question; he would have noticed sooner had there been, and Star would have already been scanning the area with his intense stare, fists at the ready to greet anyone with ill intent with his rapid-fire punches. So what was the problem? He tried to glance around discreetly, wondering if perhaps his Stand had missed something, all to no avail.

"Jotaro? Is something wrong?"

She was staring at him. He offered a clipped "Nothing" in response. Her face informed him that she thought his behavior odd, but she only shrugged. "All right, then. Thanks for walking me home. Have a good—"

She had already turned her back on him when a hand reached out to grab her arm, cutting her off midsentence with its forceful grip—and the sight made Jotaro go pale.

It was Star Platinum's hand.

At that moment, his mind took note of a few things: First, his Stand had somehow materialized on his own despite there being no clear and present danger. Second, said Stand was now standing in front of his user, his large hand firmly clasped around the arm of Jotaro's date.

And third, Star Platinum was staring back at him with an expression Jotaro had never seen before: eyes that implored him to take action, to _do something_ , mouth downturned into a pointed frown as though silently judging him.

 _What are you doing? What are you trying to tell me?_

His Stand glanced back at the young woman who was casting a confused glance over her shoulder, then back to his user, and released a firm "Ora!" As she turned around to face him, Star released her arm and backed away to stand beside Jotaro.

"Um…" she began, "are you sure there's nothing you want to tell me?"

As he scratched the back of his neck, he sent her a blank, unreadable stare.

"I see," she observed sarcastically. "In that case, _I'll_ ask: do you want to come inside with me?"

He felt Star Platinum light up beside him, his fists clenched as he released a triumphant cry. It was unbecoming of him, but Jotaro felt a flicker of something besides apathy in his gut.

"Yare yare daze," he intoned as he followed his date into the lobby.

* * *

As dispassionate as he was, Jotaro would readily admit that becoming a father was nerve-wracking.

As he waited for news of his child's delivery in the hallway, he knew that he would later rate the experience high on his list of stomach-churning experiences. Minutes felt like hours; each tick of the clock was equivalent to one phone call's worth of the old man's droning. What if something had gone wrong with his wife's labor? The urge to burst into the room was strong, his desire to pace even more so. He settled for sitting stock-still in his chair, arms crossed and muscles tense enough to stretch his carelessly buttoned shirt (his wife had gone into labor in the middle of the night, and proper dress had gone by the wayside except for the bare minimum effort of covering his naked chest).

Jotaro took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly, trying to ignore the audible quiver of the air escaping his lungs. When he opened his eyes again, he saw with little surprise that Star had materialized without him noticing. It had been happening more often as of late, most notably when he felt uneasy or stressed—not too hard to believe, really, when the Stand had previously been accustomed to such emotions being produced in response to the attack of an enemy Stand. If anything, he found it shocking that being an expectant father was apparently just as stressful as being under the constant threat of death.

What did surprise him, however, was his Stand's disheveled appearance. Star Platinum looked positively spooked, his usual stoic demeanor replaced by one of unrestrained concern. Anxiety painted his features as he glanced at his user with what Jotaro could only describe as a pleading expression. It was unsettling, to say the least.

"Ora?" A meek hand gesture towards his wife's room left little for him to decipher.

"It's not time yet," he said under his breath; a nurse sent him a wary glance as she walked by. "Just be patient." _Yare yare. Do I really have to deal with this?_

"…Ora?"

"How should I know? It can take a while sometimes. It doesn't mean anything is wrong. The doctor will tell me." Despite these assurances, Star Platinum refused to let up. He shifted, inching closer to the door, and gestured for his user to follow him. An expectant stare met a decisive frown. "Star Platinum," Jotaro practically growled, "get back here."

The Stand had no choice but to obey, but stayed visible beside him. In all honesty, Jotaro couldn't have called him back if he tried—he was far too on edge to keep him at bay for long. Though he would never admit to it, Jotaro was also able to find a sense of calm in his Stand's presence. It was better than being alone, in any case.

"Mr. Kujo?"

Both he and Star snapped to attention when the doctor entered the hallway, her face unreadable as she addressed him. "Yes?" he said, towering over her as he stood up. "Is the child born? What about my wife?"

"Your wife's fine," the doctor told him, "and so is your daughter. Congratulations to both of you."

 _Daughter_. Out of the corner of his eye, Jotaro saw Star Platinum go stiff, a look of wonderment spreading across his face. He wondered if he appeared much the same to the doctor. "I have a daughter."

He thought he saw the barest hint of a twinkle in the doctor's eye. "Would you like to meet her?"

* * *

The first time he held his daughter, his muscles had stiffened upon fear of dropping her. She felt so delicate, like a spindly bird in the palm of his hand. With her eyes not yet open and tiny hands balled into fists, Jotaro mused that he had never seen anything that looked so small and innocent. Star Platinum hovered over his shoulder, curiosity blatant in his bright eyes and loose jaw, his mouth hanging open with voiceless awe.

And all at once, he was afraid—not of the responsibility, but for her future. The Stand lingering beside him seemed symbolic of the danger always looming on the horizon, of the fact that normalcy would forever be an illusion for him. While he lived and breathed, he would always run the risk of coming into contact with other Stand users, some of whom he was certain lived unsavory lives. Star Platinum was an omen of danger, but at the same time, he was the sole reason that Jotaro had made it this far in the first place.

All of this weighed heavily on his mind, not even considering the fact that one day, his daughter might develop her own Stand as well.

"…Ora?" Star Platinum said quietly, gesturing at the infant in his user's arms with a hesitant hand—a hand that could have just as easily snapped her neck.

"Maybe later," Jotaro cautioned him. "There are too many people around."

"Ora?"

Against his will, his lips quirked upwards. "Jolyne," he said. "Her name is Jolyne."

* * *

He'd gotten better in the past few years, but on some nights he still woke up to the echoes of dying screams in his head.

He released a strangled gasp as his eyelids snapped open, cold air immediately cooling the sweat that had beaded on his brow. Sitting up and wiping the last vestiges of sleep from his eyes, Jotaro sighed as he saw that Star Platinum had already materialized in his room, and was now staring at him with evident worry.

As he searched for the shirt he had discarded on the floor last night, he kept casting furtive glances at his still-slumbering wife to ensure he wasn't making too much noise. He had to get out; the stench of fear and despair in the room was palpable.

He wandered down the hallway of his house, his Stand following close behind, until he found himself at Jolyne's nursery. The baby was still sound asleep, her peaceful expression bearing no weight caused by memories of tragedy, no scars created by violence or lost comrades.

 _At least that makes one of us_.

He couldn't talk to his wife, though he'd considered it on several occasions. Every time the idea occurred to him, it only took one glance at her smiling face as she held Jolyne, or her tender expression as she lay with him in bed, for Jotaro's intention to rapidly lose steam. He couldn't do that to her.

But Star Platinum was good company, he thought as his Stand held a sleeping Jolyne in his arms, his expression as awestruck as usual. The spirit rocked her back and forth in a manner far gentler than Jotaro thought possible, and the sight alone was enough to incite the corners of his mouth to turn up. Seeing this somehow managed to calm him down on nights like this one, when his hands were shaking too much for him to hold her properly. He was able to find comfort with the knowledge that even if his body or mind failed him he could, to an extent, count on Star to do the things he couldn't.

And even, on occasion, the things he wouldn't.

* * *

"Dad, can you put me on your shoulders?"

 _Yare yare. Are all four-year-olds this energetic?_

That was the eternal question, Jotaro mused as Jolyne cornered him at his desk—on top of the mystery of how he could ever manage to get work done while he was at home. "I'm busy right now," he told her in a brusque monotone. "Go get your mother to play with you."

"But—"

"Jolyne. I'm working."

She frowned, but did as she was told. As she ran out of the room, her foot caught on a knot in the carpet, sending the young girl falling face-first towards the doorframe.

Jotaro reacted before thinking. "Star Platinum!"

His Stand caught her effortlessly, of course, placing her back on her feet as he released a sigh of mixed relief and annoyance. "Yare yare daze…"

"W-Whoa…"

His daughter's enthralled voice recaptured his attention. He looked back at her and to his shock, saw her staring up at his Stand, her big eyes wide with amazement. "S-So cool…" She grinned up at Star, who returned the stare with a beaming smile—and in his eyes, Jotaro saw it: Adoration. Reverence. A fierce desire to protect.

He felt it all.

* * *

In the back of his mind, he'd wondered if it would eventually come to this—that thick, suffocating silence, her back to him as her shoulders shook. Not with tears, with dread. _I'm not sure how much longer I can do this_ , she'd said, and though he expected them the words had pierced his bravado with surprising potency. His diaphragm had felt tight as he stared at her stiff profile, unsure what to say, unsure if he should say anything at all.

And he tried to respond, but the best he could do was watch in helpless silence as Star stroked her hair, as his Stand offered the comfort that she would later assume had come from him, but would still judge to not be enough to remedy years of continuous neglect. Taking credit for it felt wrong, but he'd be lying if he said he'd rather do it himself. He had always seen himself as above such petty things.

"Do you love me? Do you even want to stay here?"

"You knew what you were getting into when you married me," he'd told her, and even if it were true he'd known it was the absolute worst thing he could have said. But he didn't take it back, and while she cried he saw Star Platinum's hands shaking and the sight of it made him wish he could. But he didn't.

He had more pride than that.

* * *

So here he was, sitting in his room at Morioh Grand Hotel, staring at a picture of him, his daughter, and his soon-to-be ex-wife. Nothing had been set in stone yet, but it was obvious from her demeanor that she had been considering it. Not that he could blame her.

"Ora?"

He glanced over his shoulder at his Stand, who was staring at the family photo with a look more bittersweet than he could muster if he tried. "Yare yare. I don't know," Jotaro sighed, slipping the photo back into his wallet. He closed his eyes, rubbing his temples with both hands in an attempt to ward off his incoming headache. A firm hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to see Star Platinum staring at him with pursed lips.

Worry. Sympathy. Gentleness. All the emotions he could never show to anyone, not in any meaningful way, but his Stand was capable of displaying them all. He lay back on the bed and curled up on his side, too exhausted to protest (and not really wanting to) when he felt Star mirror the position beside him. It was strange, he thought, how an entity with such destructive potential often had a humanizing effect on his user.

It was at times like these, when he thought about the life he'd left behind, that Jotaro found it difficult to imagine he had once considered Star Platinum to be an evil spirit. That was, at least in part, why Josuke's relationship with his own Stand had caught him off guard—it seemed so effortlessly casual, healthy in a way he didn't think himself capable of maintaining with anyone. Perhaps he was just pessimistic. Even now he struggled with thinking of his Stand as more than a means to an end, because to consider Star as his own entity would mean that he would have to look long and hard at the distinctions between them—and Jotaro consistently felt as though he would come up short.

He had always been proud of his Stand. It was only now that he was looking back at the course his life had taken—the good times, the mistakes, and everything in between—that he realized he might have been too proud of himself.


	3. Each Other (Jotaro & SP ft Josuke & CD)

_It wasn't because he was cocky that he decided not to run away from those thugs when they first approached him. Even as a delinquent, he knew enough to realize that fighting four gang members by himself wasn't bound to result in anything good on his end. But he hated their type, and this stubborn anger allowed him to become cornered, surrounded on all sides in an alley with no way out, nothing to do but stare stonily at his would-be attackers and be ready to fight back. How annoying._

" _What're you lookin' at, asshole?"_

 _There was no response on his end, nothing but his cold gaze, but he was ready to throw a punch when the first guy grabbed his jacket—and he would have, had his attacker not gone flying backwards with an audible crack as soon as he laid hands on him. Blood spurted from his ruined face, and he landed a few feet away, dazed, but back on his feet a few moments later._

 _Jotaro was stunned, a cold feeling creeping up the back of his spine. It had been there for just an instant, but he'd seen it—a disembodied purple arm, reaching from behind him to connect its fist with the guy's face._

" _What the hell?! You bastard! You're gonna get it now!"_

 _What happened next was vivid, blood-drenched mayhem, but through it all, he had only been watching the spirit._

* * *

 _When he got to jail and had time to think back on it in silence, he became petrified at the thought of being possessed by such a monster. What he had seen earlier was enough to convince him that under no circumstances should he leave his cell. Now that he had seen it, knew that it was following him, behind him, inside him, he couldn't help but sense its presence looming over him. A cold sweat ran down his neck. Could it sense his unease?_

 _As an officer walked by his cell, Jotaro stared at the Jump rolled up in his back pocket. What he wouldn't give to have that right now—anything at all to distract him from the menace lurking over his shoulder. The young man stiffened when he saw the arm reach out, able to stretch just far enough to retrieve the magazine and pull it into his cell, depositing it on his lap. It knew—it knew what he was thinking, and had gotten it for him._

 _Baffled, Jotaro sat stock-still in his cell. As officers and visitors walked down the hall, he watched in stupefied silence as the spirit continued to retrieve items for him, the victims of its theft seemingly unaware of the hand reaching into their pockets and bags. It even managed to get a boombox from one of the visitor's backpacks. The spirit was bringing things to him; almost as though it were attempting to placate the person it was possessing. They were all things he liked, too. Disconcerting though it was, at the very least, Jotaro would be able to isolate himself in relative comfort._

 _Flash forward a few hours, and Jotaro found himself out of jail and back at home in his room, cursing the aches and pains bestowed on him by Avdol's Stand. He glanced at the mirror, still feeling wary, and called out his spirit—his Stand, he reminded himself. It appeared behind him almost instantly in full profile, its body towering over his own impressively large visage. Intimidating didn't do it justice. He was certain anyone within twenty feet of it would go running for the hills._

" _Star Platinum," he tried out, the name sliding off his tongue with some awkwardness. He turned around to come face-to-face with the Stand, staring up at it with a strait-laced expression. "What are you?"_

 _He hadn't expected an answer, or any kind of response. But, to his surprise, the Stand cocked its head, staring down at him with a gaze akin to confusion or curiosity. It raised a hand, bringing it towards him in a manner that caused Jotaro's brow to rise, and placed its finger against his chest._

 _Right over his heart._

" _Ora," it said, the sound muddled and awkward. It seemed it was having a hard time forcing it out, but Jotaro was too busy being surprised to care about the sloppy delivery._

" _Are you going to protect me from now on?" he asked._

 _At that, the Stand's eyes brightened, and a decisive nod and clenched fists were all he received in response this time—but even so, the message was clear._

 _From that day onward, Jotaro began referring to Star Platinum as a "he."_

* * *

He woke up to the sound of the phone in his room ringing. Slightly disoriented from his dream, Jotaro lay with his eyes closed for a moment longer, allowing consciousness to wash over him in gradual waves.

 _I haven't thought about that in years_ , he mused, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. _I wonder…_

He killed that train of thought before it could go any further, and within seconds was standing at the table, phone in hand and listening to a panicked Josuke yell into his ear.

" _Jotaro! Are you there?!_ "

His back immediately straightened at the sense of urgency present in the young man's voice. "What is it? Another Stand user?" Without waiting for an answer, Jotaro slipped into the shoes he had abandoned under the table the night before and placed his hat on his head; he had conveniently fallen asleep in his clothes last night. "I'll be there soon. Are you at home?"

" _Ah…no, actually. I mean, there's no Stand user. But, uh, you said you were a marine biologist, right?_ "

"…Yes. And?"

" _Well, Okuyasu and I are hanging out near the dock and we found a sea turtle. A big one. It's just sitting on the beach. I was thinking there might be something wrong with it, so I tried to get Crazy Diamond to heal it, but it's still just sitting there and I don't want to touch it and Okuyasu got himself stuck in one of the trashcans so I went all the way over to this pay phone so I could call you and_ —"

"Josuke," Jotaro said flatly, pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Can you hold on for a minute?"

"… _Yeah?_ "

He held the phone away from his face and released a heavy sigh before replying. "All right. I'll be there soon. Just…can you try to get your friend out of the trashcan before I get there?"

" _I dunno, man, he's pretty stuck in there. Even The Hand's having a hard time pulling him out_ …"

"…"

" _Gotcha. I'll figure it out. See you soon!_ "

When the phone line went dead, Jotaro released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Yare yare daze."

When Jotaro got to the beach, it was instantly obvious that a whole lot of nothing had occurred since he spoke to Josuke on the phone. He was greeted not only by the sight of Okuyasu's legs kicking wildly into the air from where they stuck out of the nearest trashcan, but also by Josuke and The Hand, who were in varying stages of attempting to loosen him. Glancing farther up the beach, Jotaro caught sight of Crazy Diamond standing next to what he assumed was the aforementioned beached sea turtle.

Sighing, Jotaro pointedly ignored Okuyasu's plight for now, and made his way over to his uncle's Stand. "Hey," he intoned, grabbing Crazy Diamond's attention. "You tried to heal it, didn't you?" He swore he saw the Stand pouting as he nodded, a frustrated expression painting his features. "Yare yare. I'll handle this."

It took him barely a moment of examining the turtle to figure out what was going on. He stood up with a relieved sigh, turning to face the Stand. "She's laying eggs," he informed him, somewhat amused as Crazy Diamond scratched his head. In lieu of explaining the life cycle of sea turtles, Jotaro merely said, "It's normal. She's not injured, so you don't have to worry." Casting a glance at the shitshow taking place behind them, he added, "If anything, I'd be more worried about him."

When they got back to the others Jotaro took note of how Crazy Diamond hovered worriedly over Josuke's shoulder, his large hands hesitant as he watched his user attempt to squeeze his friend through such a small opening that Jotaro found himself impressed by how he had managed to get stuck in the first place. The Hand didn't appear to be faring much better, caught between using his ability to erase the trashcan and being afraid of harming his user in the process.

 _Yare yare._ "Star Platinum." His own Stand materialized beside him, a quizzical look on his face as he silently questioned Jotaro. "Oi, Josuke."

The young man released Okuyasu's legs, relief washing over him as he turned to face his nephew. "Jotaro!" he exclaimed. "I'm glad you're here—ah, sorry about this, by the way—"

"The turtle's fine," Jotaro interrupted. "Anyway, let's get him out of there. Star and your Crazy Diamond should be able to do it without hurting him."

"Yeah! Thanks, man!" Okuyasu's voice echoed inside the dingy metal walls. "It's starting to smell real bad in here!"

"Great," Josuke said; he had been starting to worry about Okuyasu getting potential brain damage from being upside-down too long. He made a mental note not to let his friend try to claim any yen he saw at the bottom of a trashcan in the future. "Let's do this."

Star Platinum approached Crazy Diamond, tapped him on the shoulder, and pointed towards the trashcan. As he and the others watched, Star made a violent ripping motion with an imaginary piece of paper between his hands, punctuating the movement with an enthusiastic cry of "Ora!"

"Tone it down a bit, Star. We don't want Okuyasu to be torn in half as well."

Crazy Diamond pointed at himself and smiled hopefully.

Josuke blanched, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I know you can heal him afterward, Crazy D, but, uh…let's try to avoid having Okuyasu horribly maimed to begin with." The Stand's hangdog expression made him feel bad. "Hey, don't look like that, okay?"

Star Platinum clasped the smaller Stand's shoulder in his large palm and patted his back a few times. Jotaro rolled his eyes and tried to stifle the lopsided smile that tugged at his lips. "Come on, you two. Okuyasu can't wait all day."

With dual nods of assent, Star Platinum and Crazy Diamond planted themselves next to the trashcan and grabbed ahold of their respective sides. The latter appeared to be looking to Star for confirmation, and mimicked his movement when he began to pull. A screeching noise sounded as the two Stands pulled the trashcan apart, causing Josuke to cover his ears and warping the metal until Okuyasu was able to wrench himself free. The Hand hovered by his side as he stood up, his user wearing a victorious grin as he brushed off his clothes. "All right! Awesome, you guys!"

"You okay, man?"

While Crazy Diamond busied himself with fixing the destroyed trashcan, Star Platinum returned to Jotaro's side; the older man stood watching Josuke and Okuyasu as they cracked wise before turning to face him.

"Thanks a lot, Jotaro," Josuke said sheepishly. "And, uh, sorry to put you through so much trouble." He looked so remorseful that Jotaro couldn't bring himself to be too annoyed.

"I don't mind," he told them, eyeing Star as he left his side once again to approach Crazy Diamond and The Hand, who were standing behind their users. For his part, Josuke's Stand seemed happy enough to be in his company, while The Hand looked as impassive as ever.

Apparently he wasn't the only one who noticed, as Okuyasu followed his line of sight. "Whoa, look at that!" He elbowed Josuke. "Are they talking, or something?"

"I don't think Stands talk to each other very often," Jotaro mused, "though maybe they're capable of understanding one another in ways we can't."

Josuke smiled as he watched the three of them, satisfied with the fact that Crazy Diamond appeared to be enjoying himself. He'd been so crestfallen earlier when they found the turtle. "That'd be…great," he whispered, turning back to face Jotaro with a goofy grin. "I've always felt bad that Crazy Diamond can't talk much. I mean, I think I still understand what he wants to say most of the time, but it'd be nice if he had a friend who could understand him better." _Not to mention one who also knows what it's like_.

At the word _friend_ , Jotaro raised a brow.

"Speaking of which, your Stand seems different, Jotaro-san," Okuyasu chimed in, rubbing his chin. "He's like…mature, I guess? More independent? He seems to communicate more…like, without words, and stuff."

"Nonverbally?" Josuke offered, and Okuyasu snapped his fingers.

"Yeah, that's it!"

It took Jotaro a few moments to formulate a response. "Stands grow and change depending on the user, so it might be because of me. He probably figured out that it's easier to communicate with me this way—though, he's always been fairly independent."

"So is Crazy Diamond," Josuke blurted out, blushing a bit at his impulsiveness. "I mean, he does stuff on his own sometimes, usually when he's trying to help me. The other day he even found my lost homework."

Okuyasu seemed floored by these revelations. "Whoa, that's pretty cool!"

As the two began to debate over the reason for The Hand's lack of communication, Jotaro glanced at Star Platinum; he was still standing with Crazy Diamond and The Hand, the three apparently gazing at the landscape as they wandered out close to their maximum ranges.

As he watched his Stand examine a broken shell with Crazy Diamond, Jotaro recalled the first time he had met him. Before he'd even recognized his existence, Star Platinum had been protecting his user. For the Stand, always being by his side, unseen and unheard but for when Jotaro's life was in danger, it must have been a frustrating reality. Yet it was obvious to him that Star cared deeply for him, as protective as he was—and not only that, he had constantly done things that surprised him, pushing him to take actions he might not have otherwise gone through with. This fact, along with observing the relationship between Josuke and Crazy Diamond, really drove home the sneaking suspicion that his Stand was far more than he appeared. If Star could talk normally, he wondered what he would say, or if he had been upset when Jotaro had called him an evil spirit when he first appeared. Even if there was no chance of that happening, Jotaro knew what he would ask. He would ask him if the day he left that jail cell, and every day since, had been enough to make up for it.

And, as Star turned around to meet his gaze with curious eyes, he knew that the answer would be an unequivocal "yes."


	4. Silence (Okuyasu & The Hand ft Josuke)

Okuyasu wasn't very smart. He was well aware of this.

He was also well aware of the fact that this limitation affected several different areas of his life, with his less than impressive grades being only the tip of the iceberg. He liked to think that what he lacked in intellectual potential, he made up for in both strength and street smarts. But given that he'd had people (including his brother) tell him time and time again as he was growing up that he was playing with a few cards short of a full deck, Okuyasu figured that this was probably unfounded optimism. He may have been stupid, but he did listen.

He released a rugged yawn and leaned back in his desk, propping his elbows up on the windowsill as he knocked back the last of his milk. Well, who cared how dumb he was, anyway? Even if he didn't have brains, he at least had…

"You okay, bro? You seem tired," Josuke said to him, chewing the plastic straw that stuck out of his juice carton. He leaned towards him, leg propped up on his knee as he scrutinized his friend. "You thinking about something?"

That was right; even if Okuyasu was an idiot, he still had his best friend. He knew Josuke didn't care how stupid he was, even if Jotaro wouldn't be as forgiving after what happened at the beach. That being said, there was still something bothering him. "Yeah," he admitted, scratching his cheek nervously. "I've been thinking pretty hard lately…" He stared at Josuke for a good few seconds before realizing he was waiting for him to continue. "Uh, hey, Josuke…do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Huh? What're you talking about, Okuyasu? Did someone call you that?"

A man more quick-witted than Okuyasu would have recalled that Josuke himself had said so when they'd first met, but since it didn't occur to him, the latter got off scot-free. "Not really, but I've been thinking about what Jotaro said the other day. About how Stands act certain ways because of their users, right?"

"I think he said they develop along with their user—like with Echoes and Koichi, that kind of thing," Josuke added, leaning his cheek into his palm. "Anyway, what about it? Did something happen with The Hand?"

Okuyasu frowned and released a tired groan. "Nah, that's the problem, man. Ever since we talked about it, I've been wondering why The Hand doesn't talk. I mean, you're always talking to Crazy Diamond, and Jotaro and his Stand are totally on the same wavelength. Not to mention that Echoes can speak normally now. I've been thinking about what Jotaro said, and I'm starting to wonder if it's just because I'm stupid. What if I'm stunting The Hand's growth or something? Is that even possible?"

Josuke didn't respond for a while, and Okuyasu began to panic silently, wondering if he'd said too much. The pompadoured teen glanced around the empty classroom, and when he was satisfied that no one was around to see them (not that it would matter, most likely) he called out Crazy Diamond.

"Huh?" Okuyasu leaned back as Josuke's Stand approached him, reaching out to cup his chin; warmth encased his skin as a familiar glow emanated from Crazy Diamond's hand. "What are you doing, bro?"

"You were biting your lip so hard it bled," Josuke told him matter-of-factly, a light flush on his cheeks. "Sorry if that was weird."

"Oh. Thanks, man."

"Anyway," Josuke sighed, "to answer your question, shut up."

Okuyasu gaped at him.  
Josuke cleared his throat and scratched the back of his neck. "Listen, man, I know you've got this complex about your intelligence, but you need to stop putting yourself down. You're not dumb, so stop calling yourself that—and you're sure as hell not stunting The Hand's growth just by existing. You might not understand him most of the time, but that just means you aren't looking in the right place!"

"The right place…?"

"Maybe that didn't come out right…" Josuke trailed off, tapping his chin with an impatient finger. "I guess just…try to talk to him, maybe? Pay attention to his expression, or body language, or whatever when you aren't fighting. Maybe the reason he isn't doing anything to show you how he feels is because you've never tried to talk to him when it doesn't have to do with attacking someone."

"Huh…you really think that'll work?"

Josuke shrugged, a bright grin on his face. "Hey, it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

* * *

They decided to go to Josuke's house after school, partially because he was the only one with a gaming console, but also with the well-intentioned goal of trying to get The Hand to be more social.

"Don't worry, Okuyasu!" Josuke encouraged him as they stood in the living room. "I'm sure we can get The Hand to communicate with you—I've had Crazy D longer, so I should be able to help. And my mom won't be back for at least a few hours, so we've got time to figure it out."

"All right, let's do this," Okuyasu agreed, his enthusiasm clipped by the sudden onset of butterflies in his stomach. What was the big deal? He shouldn't be nervous—after all, this was his Stand he was talking about. What was there to be afraid of? "The Hand."

His Stand, tall and silent as always, stood staring down at his user with a blank expression; if he were more perceptive, Okuyasu might have said he seemed almost expectant, but as it was he didn't notice—that task was relegated to Josuke.

"He's staring at you, dude," Josuke told him. "It looks like he's expecting you to say something."

"Does he?"

As the two teens watched, The Hand glanced around the room, his eyes scanning all the walls and various pieces of furniture before returning to his user.

"I think he's waiting for you to ask him to do something," Josuke hypothesized. "That's kind of sad, actually…"

Sad? Okuyasu wondered if it was sad that his Stand expected to be used. He hadn't had him for as long as Josuke or Jotaro had theirs, but from where he stood it seemed like Stands were only as effective or useful as they were made to be by their users in battle. Had he been wrong in thinking that?

Okuyasu jumped when Josuke nudged his shoulder. "Why don't you try saying something to him?"

"Like what?"

"…I dunno. Maybe ask if he can talk? Echoes can do it now, and even if he can't, he might be able to vocalize like Crazy D or Star Platinum."

He nodded in assent. "Good idea—hey, The Hand." His Stand appeared to straighten his back upon being addressed. "…Uh, can you talk?"

The Stand's lack of response but for the tilting of his head caused both teens to release a hefty sigh.

"Guess not," Josuke muttered, then immediately brightened. "Hey, I've got an idea!"

Okuyasu watched in confusion as his friend ran to turn on the game console, pulling out and plugging in all the controllers before beckoning both he and The Hand towards the couch. "Let's try this!" he exclaimed, handing two controllers to Okuyasu. "Crazy Diamond!" He gave a controller to his own Stand as soon as he manifested, and to Okuyasu's bug-eyed shock, the burly pink spirit took it without so much as a hint of confusion, almost as though he were used to it by now. The two were already sitting on the couch with controllers in hand before Okuyasu had budged from his slack-jawed position. "Are you okay, dude? You don't wanna play? I thought it would be a good bonding experience."

"Josuke…you play videogames with your Stand?" He couldn't keep the dumbstruck awe out of his voice.

Josuke blushed. "Ah, yeah—I've had him since I was a kid, so I'm kinda just used to thinking about him as a companion more than a fighting machine, ya know? Besides, it's nice to have someone who can play with you when you're bored. I thought maybe if you did it with The Hand, he might open up more."

He had to admit it wasn't a bad idea. It didn't seem like it could hurt, at least. "Let's try it, then!" He returned Josuke's enthusiastic grin as he sat on the couch and patted the spot next to him. "Sit down here," he told his Stand. The Hand did as he was told, and didn't put up much resistance when his user maneuvered a controller into his too-large hands—Okuyasu was just thankful he didn't accidentally make the thing disappear. He didn't have the money to buy a new one.

They played for a while without any problems, the sounds of button mashing and music from the game interspersed with Josuke cursing every time he accidentally drove off the track. Okuyasu didn't seem to be faring much better (though at least he had some proficiency with the controls, which was more than he could say for Josuke), seeing as he spent most of his brainpower watching The Hand's portion of the screen.

His Stand was objectively terrible. His character seemed to be in a constant state of plunging off of the track, and he could hardly go three seconds without either falling off or ramming into a wall when there weren't any turns up ahead. A sideways glance told him that The Hand wasn't even watching the screen, but was rather pressing the buttons as he stared at his controller with a detached expression. Okuyasu couldn't help but snicker good-naturedly under his breath.

"Dammit!" Josuke cursed as their fourth race came to a close, utter devastation and defeat written across his face. "Why do I keep driving off?!"

"Because you suck, bro," Okuyasu taunted him. "Even I'm better than you, and I haven't played in forever. How can you suck so hard when you play with Crazy Diamond?"

"He goes easy on me," Josuke pouted, and Okuyasu proceeded to roar with laughter. Indeed, Crazy Diamond had ended up beating all of them, but the notion that a Stand had taken pity on its own user in _Mario Kart_ of all things was so ridiculous he couldn't help but laugh until he cried. "It's not that funny, dude!"

"Yes it is, holy shit!"

"Yeah, yeah." Josuke rolled his eyes defiantly, but the fiery blush on his cheeks was a dead giveaway. "I'm gonna go get us some drinks. You want something?"

"Just a soda's fine."

As he and Crazy Diamond went to the kitchen, Okuyasu took the time to catch his breath. His sides were practically aching from laughing so hard; he hadn't had this much fun in a while. He turned towards The Hand, wondering if any of this had gotten through to him, and promptly froze.

If his eyes weren't playing tricks on him…then his Stand was _smiling_. There was no doubt about it—it was faint, hard to make out on The Hand's stoic face, but it was there. The edges of his mouth were slanted upwards, the usually straight, thin line curved lightly into something that resembled an expression he would call content. He'd never seen it before. Okuyasu may have been an idiot, and he may not have had the best life so far, but even he could tell happiness when he saw it.

And all of a sudden, he understood. The silence that always followed him, the utter lack of presence The Hand embodied—it hadn't been because he was unintelligent, or because he couldn't think, or because he had no feelings to speak of. It was because he hadn't been given an opportunity to show him otherwise. Josuke was right.

Okuyasu hardly had time to gather his scattered thoughts before Josuke and Crazy Diamond came back to the living room, a soda can and a glass of lemonade in the former's hands. "Hey, Okuyasu, I've got your—"

He barely saw Josuke trip out of the corner of his eye, and had only an instant to watch the glass of lemonade begin its harrowing descent towards the couch. Before either of them could respond, he saw a flash of movement and a familiar, destructive sound.

 _Oh, shit_.

The two teens jumped back as The Hand's palm sliced across the falling glass, along with part of the couch—and an instant later, the two remaining sides had slammed back together to form a sofa not much wider than an oversized armchair. The glass of lemonade was gone, as was the entire middle portion of the couch, and for a few seconds all Josuke could do was stare in horror at his mother's decimated furniture. Meanwhile, The Hand stared expectantly at his user, satisfied that the mess had been averted.

"…Shit," Josuke said, breaking the silence.

"It's okay, right, dude?" Okuyasu said, laughing nervously. "I mean, your Crazy Diamond can fix it, right? It's just a couch!"

"Uh, yeah, but…I mean, The Hand just made it disappear, right? Crazy D can't exactly fix an object that's had part of it wiped from existence."

"…Shit."

The two stood in shocked silence for a while longer, Okuyasu unable to even appreciate the fact that The Hand had finally done something of his own accord (even if it had been unnecessary) when the consequence for it was potentially being slaughtered by his best friend's mother. "What are we gonna do, dude?"

"I don't know. Die, I guess."

"…Wanna call Jotaro?"

"…"

"He's got money, right? He can probably get a new couch within an hour."

"…Where's the nearest payphone?"


	5. Children (Jolyne & SF ft Jotaro & SP)

"I think there's something wrong with our daughter."

There wasn't much anyone could say that would distract Jotaro from his work, but his wife had managed to find it. He looked away from the research articles he'd been skimming to glance at her, noted her worry lines and stiff posture, and stood up. "Did something happen at school?" Jolyne had recently started the second grade. It wasn't possible that she'd gotten into a fight with one of the other kids already, was it?

A nail was driven into that theory's coffin almost immediately. "No, she…" His wife paused, shook her head. "You'd better not think I'm crazy, but I swear I just saw her hand _disappear_."

 _That_ certainly got his attention. His fists clenched, and he tried to hide them in his pockets. "…Disappear?" he echoed.

"Don't frown at me like that—it's true! She was just standing outside, staring at the butterfly on top of the neighbor's fence, and her hand disappeared. But not all at once—like it was being pulled away, bit by bit. It came back so fast I barely had time to blink, but…" She shook her head again, clearly at a loss. "Sorry for bothering you. I just…she's been so distant lately, too. I thought the imaginary friend thing was just a phase, but it's starting to worry me. Maybe I'm just too stressed, worrying about her at school. It was probably just my imagination…"

Most of this was news to him, and Jotaro tried to ignore the pang in his chest that came with the realization of how little he knew. He tried to push it aside for a moment, to focus on the broader implications of his wife's fears without letting his own concerns show. "Don't worry," he told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'll talk to her."

* * *

He started by picking Jolyne up from school the next day.

"Hey, Dad!" she said with a smile as she climbed into the car, throwing her backpack haphazardly onto the floor. "This is weird, huh? You almost never pick me up. Where's Mom?"

"Resting," he said simply as he pulled out of the parking lot. "I told her we'd be hanging out today after school, so she could take the afternoon off."

"Huh," Jolyne said in a clipped tone, mildly confused. She and her father were going to hang out? She had to admit she was more than a little excited. She couldn't remember the last time they'd spent the day together, since he was always doing work or whatever in his office. She made eye contact with him via the rearview mirror, sending him the biggest smile she could muster. "Sounds cool! Where are we going?"

Jotaro paused, realizing now that he was put on the spot that he hadn't actually bothered to come up with any sort of plan. " _Yare yare_ …what do you like?"

* * *

They ended up going to the aquarium, in no small part because Jolyne couldn't make up her mind and he had no basis for deducing what a seven-year-old would like. He couldn't help it; his default mode was to choose something that had to do with marine life in one way or another. At least it was interesting to him, and he found he was even enjoying the occasions where his daughter would be awestruck by the animals she saw there; the dolphins were her favorite. At least she had good taste.

Unfortunately for him, Jolyne also had a habit of sprinting anywhere she found even remotely interesting. He made sure to keep Star Platinum out most of the time, following her around so that he could catch her if she fell. His Stand took the job gravely seriously; he kept his eyes latched onto her, his hands held out as he followed a few feet behind, prepared if she decided to make any sudden movements. Jotaro trailed after both of them.

It was exhausting in every sense of the word. The only brief respite he got was when the two of them visited the gift shop, though even that had been tainted somewhat. Star had almost made off with a stuffed dolphin, most likely because he'd seen Jolyne cooing over it earlier, and he'd had to act quickly to ensure that neither she nor any of the other visitors—including the employees, God forbid—had seen him discreetly smuggle it back inside the shop. (He'd ended up buying it anyway, of course.)

Not only that, but throughout the entirety of their visit, there had been something nagging at him. He wanted to know if she could see his Stand, but even so, he always made sure to summon Star back before Jolyne could turn around and catch a glimpse of him. It was irrational, but there was still a part of him that wanted to deny what he already knew was true. She had been able to back then, when she was three, and at the time he remembered thinking that it was a sign of things to come. While Star had seemed ecstatic, a bright grin on his face as she stared up at him in awe, it had drawn out the opposite feeling in him. He had wondered when this would happen almost every day since then. He didn't doubt his wife's concerns—quite the contrary, in fact.

 _If she can see him…then what?_

* * *

For as far back as she could remember she had known that her father was strange. Even if no one else could see it, including her mother, Jolyne knew that the giant purple spirit that hung around him was real—she could tell, just by looking, and knew that he could see her, too. On the rare occasions she saw him, when her father was sitting alone in his office, there had been times when he'd even made eye contact—a stagnant glance, accompanied by a smile that was clearly aimed at her, had been enough to convince her that he was some sort of superman. Her father had never mentioned it, had probably assumed she'd forgotten what happened, but even though she'd been three at the time Jolyne knew she would never forget the moment her father's spirit stopped her from falling.

 _Star Platinum_ , he'd called him. It fit him well, surprisingly. She'd always wanted to meet him again, and now she could. She was sure her father would let her, because now she had her own. She hadn't seen it, but she knew that her spirit was there: She could feel it inside of her. Even if she didn't get odd powers from it, she'd be able to tell. She was frustrated, though—for as long as she'd been trying to talk to it, it had never responded. Maybe spirits didn't talk? She'd never heard Star Platinum talk, though he seemed like he'd be able to understand if she said something to him. She wasn't sure how she could tell—she just _knew_.

"Why won't you come out?" she asked quietly as she stared up at the ceiling from her bed. "Do you not like me…?"

Jolyne shot bolt upright and sprinted to her bookshelf when something occurred to her. Plucking a thick, leather-bound book off the shelf, she opened up to the first page and splayed herself out on the carpet. Before her sat a children's dictionary, and though she herself wasn't yet able to figure out all the words in it, she figured it was a good start for her spirit. "Let's read it together, okay? You'll be able to talk in no time, and then maybe you'll come out!"

"Jolyne, can I talk to you?"

At the sound of her father's voice, Jolyne panicked and slammed the book closed. He was standing in her doorway. "Dad?" she asked in a shaky tone, laughing suspiciously as sweat beaded on her brow. "What's going on? I wasn't doing anything!"

Jotaro stared at her with a blank look. "…Yeah. I wanted to talk to you, if that's okay. Can I come in?"

The young girl nodded furiously. "Uh-huh! Here, sit down, sit down!" She gestured enthusiastically at her bed, grinning smugly with the knowledge that she'd remembered to make it this morning. Would her father dare say he was unimpressed?

His expression didn't change as he sat down, and any outsider would laugh until they cried upon seeing such an imposing figure sitting on a hot pink bed with a frilly comforter—and then promptly blanch when he shot them a look that would make even angels weep.

"Where's Mom?" Jolyne asked for the second time that day. "I haven't seen her since dinner…she usually comes to say goodnight by now."

"She's asleep. I'm here instead."

"Oh. Okay."

Jotaro shifted on the bed, glanced at the large stuffed dolphin sitting next to him, and cleared his throat. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about what's been going on lately. You…have something following you, don't you?"

This was it—the moment she'd been waiting for. Jolyne couldn't help but quiver with excitement as she nodded. "Yeah! My spirit, right? It's been there for a while, but I didn't want to tell you about it until it came out."

"Came out? You mean you haven't seen it yet?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I've been trying, but all I can do is make my hands like string for now—but I know it's there! I can feel it, and I know I'll be able to see it one day, just like your—" Jolyne clapped her hands over her mouth, but it was already too late: her father was staring pointedly at her, with an expression that would have instilled the fear of God in anyone else. "Whoops."

"What did you just say?"

Jolyne sank dramatically to the ground and rolled her body back and forth across the floor, releasing muffled groans into the carpet. This went on for a few seconds, with Jotaro exercising extreme patience for his daughter's theatrical display.

"Are you done yet?"

"Yeah," she said stubbornly, sitting back up. "Promise I won't get in trouble?"

"No."

Jolyne huffed as she crossed her arms. "Fine…I know about your spirit. I've known about him ever since he caught me that one time—and sometimes I see him around the house too, like when you're in your office." She covered her face with her hands, readying herself for her father's wrath, but it never came. Peeking through the gaps between her fingers, Jolyne saw him staring back at her—but now there was someone else in the room, as well.

"Star Platinum!" she gasped, grinning widely as she jumped to her feet and stared up at the towering purple figure before her. He returned her grin with one of his own, an impossibly wide beaming smile that put all his previous ones to shame.

"You like him a lot, don't you?"

She glanced at her father like he was crazy. "Of course I do! He's…" _He's cool. He helped me that one time. And…I don't really know, but there's something really nice about him. Like he's looking out for us_. "He's my friend."

"Ora!"

Jolyne laughed, and decided to treat it as a positive response. "And when my spirit grows up, it'll be your friend too."

"Jolyne…"

His daughter glanced at him, doe-eyed and glowing with excitement, and Jotaro found he couldn't say anything. He'd come here with the intention of making the existence of Stands out to be a serious situation that required dignified attention. He knew firsthand how dangerous it could be, how dangerous it _would_ be if her Stand eventually fully manifested—he'd been around the block a few times, after all, and knew that the life of a common Stand user was rarely a rosy one.

But looking at her now, seeing how happy she was staring up at Star—not to mention how much his Stand was enjoying her attention and affection—all of those worries seemed so far away.

"…You said you could make your hands like string?"

The young girl nodded.

"…Could you show me?"

* * *

"So first you separate the hair in the front from the hair in the back—like really long side bangs, only on both sides, you know? Those'll be the braids later. And then you have to split the back part into two sections for the buns."

Star Platinum was riveted as he watched Jolyne separate her hair into the aforementioned sections, kneeling beside her as she sat on folded knees in front of her mirror. Jotaro was still sitting on the bed, trying for all the world to appear uninterested as he kept sneaking furtive glances at his daughter's impromptu hair tutorial.

Jolyne smiled as she turned around, holding her hair out towards his Stand. "Now you try it, Star Platinum!"

If nothing else, Star certainly made an attempt to mimic her earlier motions. He couldn't quite get the hang of it, unfortunately, and each effort to fashion a proper bun on her head resulted in the hairdressing equivalent of releasing an inflated balloon before tying the knot.

On the twelfth try Jolyne took pity on him. "That's all right, Star Platinum," she reassured him upon seeing his jutting lip and furrowed brow. "Maybe you can watch my Dad do it?"

It took Jotaro a few seconds to recognize that he'd been chosen as sacrifice, but from the moment he summoned the courage needed to take his Stand's place on the carpet, it took barely a minute for him to fail in similar fashion. Doing a young girl's hair wasn't his forte, not to mention the hairstyle she was demanding seemed unnecessarily complicated. Weren't regular braids enough? Josuke might have been able to pull something like this off with his vault of experience, but he was far from being his uncle.

"Hmm…you guys kind of suck at this, don't you?"

"Ora!"

In a rare bout of camaraderie, Jotaro found himself agreeing with Star.

Jolyne tapped her chin, seemingly contemplating something. "I guess we can practice more later, then—hey, Dad, why don't you read me something before I go to bed? Mom does that sometimes."

He arched his brow. "Like what?"

"Pick something cool!"

And that was the story of how Jotaro, in all of his fatherly glory, decided to read aloud to her the first hundred pages of _The Bottlenose Dolphin: Biology and Conservation_. His wife would wake up alone the next morning and wonder where her husband was, only to find him in their daughter's room, his legs dangling off of the too-short bed and the open textbook splayed across his chest. He would go on to issue mumbled complaints about his neck pain for a few days afterwards.


	6. Courage (Koichi & Echoes)

**Well, here this is. I haven't seen a lot of stuff about Echoes, so I've been wanting to do this for a while. Probably the next one will be about Jolyne.**

* * *

"Master, your shoe is untied."

Koichi heard Echoes' warning just in time for him to trip over the renegade laces, and winced as his knees hit the concrete.

"Oh, no…" He sighed and gingerly placed the bouquet he was holding on the ground. Pushing himself into a crouch to survey the damage, he noted gratefully that his pants weren't torn, but his hands still shook as he dusted them off. "Thanks for the warning. I guess I'm more nervous than I thought..."

Koichi gently picked up the flowers—they seemed to his biased vision wilted and ugly things, well past their prime for serving his purpose—but nearly dropped them again when his Stand materialized beside him. As if his heartbeat wasn't frantic enough already. "Eh? What's wrong, Echoes?"

The short Stand was staring at him, two fingers cupping his chin. "You don't look well, Master."

"Huh?! But I put extra effort into my appearance today! I even ironed my clothes! What's wrong with my—oh, you don't mean physically." Koichi flushed. "Yeah, I guess I'm actually pretty stressed. I'll be fine, though—and I should hurry. I don't want to keep her waiting."

"Where are we going anyway, Master?" Echoes asked as his user started to walk again. Out of the corner of his eye, Koichi saw his Stand glance at the bouquet. "What are those for?"

The young man smiled. "Ah, these are for Yukako! We're going on a date today, remember? I'm pretty sure I mentioned it before. That's why I'm so nervous." He laughed lightly, but it was a shallow attempt at comfort. "I hope she likes them. They were all they had left at the stand."

Echoes, in contrast to his user's agitated demeanor, was perfectly stoic. "Yes, I remember that beotch. She tried to kill us. Is today the day you get your revenge?"

"N-No! Of course not! She's my…well, she _will_ be, if today goes well. I'm going to ask her to be my girlfriend. We've been dating for a while, but I haven't made it official yet, so…"

"So you don't want me to kill her?"

Koichi frantically shook his head. "No, I don't! Right now, all I want to do is get to the restaurant on time. Girls like it when guys are considerate."

"Hm."

While Koichi wasn't lying about asking Yukako to be his girlfriend, he may have stretched the truth a bit in his explanation. It was true that they hung out together, just as often by themselves as with Josuke and Okuyasu, but at no point had the word _date_ been uttered between them. Yukako had never brought it up, having stressed from the moment they reconciled that she would be happy with only his friendship, and though her positive attributes had long begun to outweigh any lingering wariness he had for her, Koichi never had the courage to bring up the topic.

Today, he was determined to change that; him asking her if she wanted to go get coffee had already set the plan in motion. All he had to do now was not screw it up.

As most things are, this was easier said than done.

* * *

"I tried to stop him, of course, but you know how he gets when someone insults his hair—the poor guy never saw it coming!"

Koichi tried to rein in his grin. "Yeah, that does sound like something Josuke would do—but really? The whole broom?"

"Well…he tried to, at least."

"What happened?"

Yukako blushed and hid behind her hand, waving the other one as if to ward him off. "Oh, no. I shouldn't have said anything. You'll think badly of me!"

"I promise I won't."

Peeking between her fingers, Yukako sighed. "Fine…I used my Love Deluxe to trip him."

Koichi couldn't resist a guffaw. "Oh, wow. I bet that rubbed him the wrong way."

"I think so. He wouldn't talk to me the rest of the day."

Listening to Yukako talk about being on cleaning duty with Josuke definitely helped raise his spirits, but in the aftermath of stifled giggles Koichi felt his earlier insecurity creeping up on him. "Hey, Yukako…I've been meaning to ask you something…"

"Oh? What is it?"

"I…well, that is…"

He raised his eyes to meet hers, prepared to dive headlong into the waters of romantic uncertainty, and felt the words die in his throat when he saw who was walking on the sidewalk but a few feet behind Yukako.

 _J-Josuke and Okuyasu?!_

From this short distance he could see the two teens staring in the direction of their table, Okuyasu having elbowed Josuke as they walked by and gestured towards them. Koichi tried to will them away silently, making a minute gesture with his head that he hoped would get the message across.

"Koichi-kun?"

Returning his attention to the girl in front of him, he smiled. "Ah, sorry about that. I, uh, thought I saw someone I recognized, but it turned out to be—"

"KOICHI! What's up, dude?"

 _I wonder if it's too late to reschedule? Definitely. It's definitely too late, isn't it?_

"What's goin' on here?" Josuke asked as he and Okuyasu sidled up to their table and proceeded, much to Koichi's horror, to noisily drag over two extra chairs from nearby. "You guys are hanging out without us?"

"No fair!" Okuyasu chimed in as he sat down, throwing an arm around the smaller boy's stiff shoulders. He called out to the waiter as he walked by. "Hey! Can I get a coffee?"

"Make that two, please! And some coffee cake too."

 _I mean, it may be too late to reschedule and start from scratch, but if I say I feel sick that might_ —

"Hello Josuke, Okuyasu," Yukako greeted politely, sending them a small but genuine smile. "How's your weekend been so far?"

"Pretty good," Josuke grinned back. "Oku and I've been playing Mario Kart the whole time, basically, and we realized we haven't eaten. We were gonna go to Tonio's, but then we saw you guys and decided to come here."

"Oi, what's this?" Koichi felt his stomach lurch past his feet, burrowing deep into the earth and emerging into its molten core as Okuyasu grabbed the bouquet he had brought for Yukako. "These flowers are kinda wilted, huh? Did you buy these, Koichi?"

The young man was overcome with a sudden urge to join his stomach in its descent. "Y-Yes, I did."

"Whoa, really? You got ripped off, dude."

"Okuyasu, that's not cool, man. What'd the flowers do to you?"

"I think they're very pretty," Yukako added gingerly. "It was very considerate of you, Koichi-kun. Did you buy them for your mother?"

He wondered how many more blows he could take before he would have to tap out. _I guess I should've told her the flowers were for her to begin with. Now it's just awkward with Josuke and Okuyasu here—not that it's their fault, really, but_ … _this is getting kind of out of hand. What should I do?_

"Oi—Josuke, Okuyasu. I want to talk to you two."

All four teens turned to glance at the source of the familiarly deep voice, and Koichi felt his heart swell with relief. "Jotaro-san!" he exclaimed. _He must've seen what just happened! He may be Josuke's nephew, but he seems much more attentive. He'll probably try to coax them away_.

"Hey, Jotaro!" Josuke waved. "Okuyasu and I are probably gonna be here for a bit, so do you wanna join us? I'll pay, since…you know."

Jotaro's eyes narrowed. "Not like this. I saw you two come over here. Don't you see what you've done?"

 _You're a lifesaver, Jotaro-san!_

"Eh? What'd we do?"

The older man sighed, pulling the brim of his hat down over his eyes. "Yare yare daze…teenagers these days." Koichi watched in confusion as he made a curved path around two unoccupied tables, gathered a chair from both, and brought them back to the others. Fixing Josuke and Okuyasu with a pointed glare, he explained, "If each table has two chairs, you only take one from each if you need extra. It's common courtesy. One of you go put yours back."

"Whoa! My bad. I didn't realize…"

As Jotaro sat down with them, Koichi began to seriously consider the necessity of resigning himself to his certain failure—but only minutes later saw him in such a severe state of anxiety-induced silence that he was practically stir-crazy. The nerves created from his intention to ask Yukako to be his girlfriend, stuck at the forefront of his mind and held in check by a dangerous level of restraint due to the others' presence, were caught in a self-perpetuating cycle.

Glancing around the table did not help: Jotaro sat sipping tea in his usual dignified manner, while his two classmates took turns taking bites out of their shared coffee cake—Josuke even fed Okuyasu a piece, for Christ's sake—and generally being their usual brand of handsy.

But when Yukako looked at him with concern that was the final straw.

"Excuse me," he said quickly, heading to the bathroom without waiting for an answer.

* * *

"You seem to be sweating a lot, Master."

"I know that!" he snapped, unintentionally irate. Indeed he was, but he didn't appreciate it being pointed out, especially by his own Stand. "Maybe I should just leave…it's not like I could ask her now, anyway. Even if the others leave I don't think I'll be able to do it at this point." He leaned his forearms against the sink and splashed some water onto his face. "I mean, do you see them out there? It's like they have no sense of what's private!" Glancing at Echoes, whose cocked head was sporting its usual impassive expression, Koichi shook his own head. What was he doing venting to his Stand, anyway? It's not like Echoes had any personal stake in this. He had been more than willing to kill Yukako earlier if his user had commanded it.

"I don't quite understand the issue," Echoes said, mirroring Koichi's own thoughts. "Why can't you just say what you want to?"

"It's not that simple!"

"Why not?"

"I'd have to tell them to leave us alone!"

"So why can't you do that, then?"

Such a simple question turned out to be harder to answer than Koichi thought. Even with the gears turning in his brain, he failed to churn out a proper response, one that didn't sound like bullshit. Finally he said, "They'd ask what was going on. You saw how they were acting just a few moments ago. There're no boundaries with them, especially Josuke and Okuyasu—I mean, they're my friends, but come on! They're acting more like _they're_ on a date than Yukako and I—not that I'd care if they were, but I just…" He was rambling now.

"I still don't understand, Master," Echoes said in his robotic voice. "Why does it matter what they ask?"

"Why does it…?"

"Think of how many enemies we've defeated. Some of them would have killed us if it hadn't been for our quick thinking and comrades. This seems fairly simple compared to that."

To Koichi, comparing the two sounded inherently stupid. After all, was asking a girl out comparable in any sense to battling another Stand user for your life? He supposed in a purely comical way it was. He preferred to think of things as they are, however.

But by God, if thinking about asking Yukako to be his girlfriend as if it were just another battle between him and a Stand user would be enough for him to gather his wits and steel his nerves, then he would do it. Thinking about it this way certainly allowed him to muster up courage.

 _Is that it? Is it just a matter of courage? I was able to do things I thought I couldn't when my family's lives and mine were on the line, but will it work here?_ He glanced at Echoes again. For some reason, his Stand looked taller at the moment, prouder—it could have just been his imagination, but Koichi wondered if his Stand was subconsciously mirroring the thoughts of his user.

With a smile, he decided to go with the latter. "Echoes…you're right."

"Am I?"

He nodded. "You may be my Stand, but you've definitely got your own personality—well, maybe it's a part of me I'm not quite good at showing, but either way…thanks. I think I feel better now."

"Are we going back out there, then?"

"Yep." He straightened his back, fixed his hair, and turned towards the exit. "Let's do this, Echoes."

"Let's go get tha ho!"

"Uh…maybe tone that down a bit, at least in front of her."

* * *

"Excuse me!"

Josuke and Okuyasu stopped their chatting at Koichi's insistent tone, while Jotaro and Yukako turned to glance at him. They all looked fairly taken off guard, but he wasn't about to let their surprise trip him up.

"If the three of you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Yukako alone."

He was prepared in some degree to hear an objection, most likely from Okuyasu, and was not disappointed.

"Eh? What for?"

"It's private."

"But—"

"Okuyasu, let it go," Josuke said, placing his hand on the other teen's shoulder and leaning in to place his lips close to his ear. He held his hand so that his lips couldn't be read, and mumbled something into Okuyasu's ear. Almost instantaneously, the young man had leapt out of his seat and was dragging the pompadoured teen away by the wrist.

"Later guys! Have fun! Oi, Josuke…"

Turning back to the table, Koichi was surprised to see that Jotaro had managed to get a few feet away from them without being noticed. The older man sent him a nod before following the other two, and Koichi returned the gesture.

 _Wow. That was…easy. Once I got over my fear, it was the easiest thing in the world._

"Koichi-kun?" Yukako asked, blushing as she watched him sit down. He wondered if he looked more self-assured—he certainly felt like it. "Did something happen in the bathroom? You're acting…different."

"Yeah, actually," he said, laughing. "I figured some stuff out."

And thus, the hard part had arrived—but with Echoes behind him, the act that had weighed him down less than an hour before made him feel lighter than air.

* * *

 **I'm going to predict that this chapter won't be as well-liked as some of the other ones. I'm not sure how much anyone else cares about Echoes, but I did enjoy writing this. It was interesting trying to capture Echoes with the dialogue, since he actually talks. Either way, I hope someone out there found enjoyment from this, and if not, you can look forward to Jolyne again next time. Thanks for reading!**


	7. Family (Jolyne & SF & Jotaro & SP)

**This one has been on my mind for a while, so beware of Stone Ocean spoilers (minor though they may be, since this is set at the beginning of Part 6). Any comedy to be found in this one-shot is unintentional. This is basically the scene where Jotaro visits Jolyne with the backstory from Jolyne's earlier chapter included (plus their Stands). There are slight differences because of this (also due to me avoiding referencing the actual source material while writing it).**

* * *

There was a part of her that wondered, no matter how calm she made herself out to be, whether her father could tell what she was thinking. He certainly didn't look like it, but that didn't mean much considering that he never looked like he cared about anything. She used to think that it made him cool, and had always fancied herself to one day be as unflappable as he was when put under pressure, but as she got older those childish notions had given way under the crushing weight of reality. Instead of considering it cool, she equated his stoicism to apathy, his silence to indifference, and his hardened gaze to disdain.

As he stared at her across the room, composed even after watching her knock the guard unconscious, that was all she could think about: her rage, her frustration, her annoyance—but most of all, her inability to hate him. She could feel Stone Free resisting her restraints, eager to come out, perhaps sensing the impending confrontation. So she even recognized her own father as an enemy now? She would have laughed, if the situation weren't so pathetic.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Maybe now they'll put me in solitary," she spat. "At least then I won't have to see your face."

"Jolyne—"

"I don't want to hear it. After all this time, now you want to act like a father?" It hurt to say it, since she could remember occasions where he _had_ acted like it—but even those had been few and far between, and around the time she turned nine, with the divorce and his frequent trips, it was as though he forgot she even existed at all.

Besides, it had mostly been his Stand that acted like a father, anyway.

She tensed when he stood up and started walking closer to her, his expression and stance both utterly unreadable. His brows were furrowed, his eyes shining with something she couldn't recognize—was he going to hit her, maybe? Slap her for being disrespectful, not to mention knocking out a prison guard? At this point, nothing would surprise her.

"Stone Free!" She finally managed to make her mouth move, and her Stand emerged just as her father closed the distance between them—not enough time for her to retaliate, or maybe she just knew she wouldn't. She closed her eyes, prepared to take the hit, but it never came. Instead, she heard a very familiar battle cry, and an instant later felt the chain of her handcuffs slacken and fall away.

"Jolyne."

She knew what she would see before she opened her eyes—or what she hoped she would—but still felt her throat tighten when she saw her old friend standing by her father's side, his expression forlorn as he stared at her.

"Star Platinum…" she whispered. The name sounded strange after all these years. It hurt to remember, but she couldn't have forgotten even if she tried. Stone Free hovered over her shoulder, her head timidly peaking out from behind her user. _You want to go see him, don't you? Well, that's not surprising. I always said you two would be friends when I grew up. Look how that turned out, huh?_ Her Stand, as she always did, confirmed her expectations, the desire to step forward so strong that Jolyne had a hard time discerning which one of them it came from, if not both. A part of her wondered if Stone Free considered Star Platinum to be some kind of father figure. It wouldn't surprise her, really. Her Stand was a part of her, after all. It would stand up to scrutiny that Stone Free might possess some of her psychological hang-ups.

"We have to get out of here quickly," she heard her father say, pulling her back to the situation at hand. "More guards will come soon. I don't want to have to do this, but if you refuse, I'll have no choice but to force you to come with me."

It didn't take long for her anger to come back in full force. "There you go again, not listening to what anyone else says. You always think you're in the right, don't you? Well, I already told you: I'm not going with you. I don't want anything to do with you. Besides, there's something going on in here that I'm interested in." Sighing, she turned away; it hurt to look at him and see the same person—people?—she'd revered as a young girl.

He was silent. She tried not to look at his face, though she could see how still he was in her peripheral vision. She shoved her emotions _down, down, down_ , kept them from flowing over, kept him from seeing that he was still her weakness.

"Ora?"

When she saw a purple arm reach towards her, her gaze snapped back to him reflexively: Star Platinum was reaching out to her, that look still on his face, the one that threatened to tear her heart out of her chest. _Stop it. Stop looking at me like that_.

When she felt something wet fall on her shoulder, she glanced behind her and received a shock to the system: Stone Free was…crying? She didn't believe it at first and tried to rationalize it with the possibility that her mind was playing tricks on her, but what else could be rolling down the Stand's face from behind her shades? What else could be dripping onto her shoulder? She could practically hear her Stand crying, though she couldn't be sure if that was because of the psychological connection or her own delusion. And in her head, playing like a mantra, she could hear something else, too.

 _I'm sorry. I'll forgive you. I don't want to lose you. Don't stop loving me. Tell me that what I did wasn't wrong, that I'm a good kid, that I'm not a burden or useless or a waste of space. Tell me that you love me, that you care. I'm sorry._

 _I'll forgive you, so please, don't stop loving me._

It felt to her like all the things she had wanted to tell him over the years—all that she'd never gotten the chance to say, because no matter what she did or how much trouble she got in he had never come to see her. No, not even that: they were her deepest insecurities, the reassurances she had wanted but never received from the person she needed them from most. Was she still that pathetic? No, she didn't need to hear those kinds of reassurances—she wasn't a kid anymore, after all. But there was still something she wanted to hear him say.

"Jolyne."

She numbly looked at her father, who for his part looked like he was having as hard a time restraining his thoughts as she was. How she could tell, she wasn't sure, but it _hurt_.

"I'm sorry," he told her, and it only made the ache in her chest worse.

 _He...he actually said it_. "…What are you sorry for?"

"For leaving you alone. I had hoped not to get you involved in this, but it looks like that's not possible now. You may hate me, but what I'm asking you to do now will make sense later. I can explain everything."

He said it all so matter-of-factly, in the same bored tone he always used, that she found it difficult to believe the words she was hearing. "What do you…?" But then she glanced back at Star Platinum, at his stricken expression, and for the second time she could hear a pleading voice in her head, but this time it wasn't hers.

 _You can hate me, but please stay safe_.

"Dad…" she said quietly, her throat constricting.

Then, for the briefest instant, she thought something changed—the air around her felt different, as though some unknowable force had descended upon them without her noticing—but it must've been her imagination, because as far as she could tell nothing around them had changed at all. Her father was still standing right in front of her, Star Platinum by his side, his worried expression remaining but tinged with hope, and Stone Free was still behind her.

The only difference she could sense was that, where her body had previously felt cold, there was now an unmistakable sensation of warmth, wrapped around her like a blanket, and the ghost of a touch on her face that felt suspiciously like a person's hand.

* * *

 **And of course we all know what happens afterwards (or at least those of us who've read Part 6 to its conclusion). This isn't really a fix-it fic, though I did find myself wanting more exploration of Jolyne's obvious daddy issues, as well as Jotaro providing more than the sparse lines of paternal dialogue afforded to him in the manga. Unfortunately I couldn't go too far without him feeling OOC, but I guess that's to be expected.**

 **Anyway, sorry if this sucks. I wrote it mostly for peace of mind, but hopefully someone else out there will like it. I'm thinking Killer Queen's chapter is overdue.**


End file.
